#CapsSabres Postgame Notebook: Getting Right

Washington played a strong first 40 minutes against the Sabres in Buffalo on Monday afternoon, forging a 2-0 lead to take into the third period. There were some white-knuckle moments in the third as the Caps likely sat back a bit more than they intended, but Washington ultimately skated off with a 3-2 win over the Sabres.

Coming in the wake of an ugly 7-1 thumping at the hands of the Blackhawks in Chicago on Saturday night, the Caps' win over the Sabres was a good response and a strong bounce back performance.

"I actually don't think we did much to give them momentum in the third to be honest," says Caps defenseman John Carlson. "I think they played really well. When a team is pinching down on you, you've got to work around that. I think we did a better job in the last 10 [minutes] than the first 10 in that last period. But it's a tough game. It's the NHL, and these teams, they've got really skilled players. They shorten the bench and they press you as hard as they can. That's just what happens in third periods. The more we can learn and make better plays getting it out like we did in the last 10, we'll be better off."

End Of The Road - With Monday's game in the books, so is the Caps' longest road trip of the season, a four-game run that carried them from Winnipeg to Minnesota to Chicago and finally, to Buffalo. Washington concludes that journey with a respectable 2-1-1 record for the trip.

"It's not bad," says Carlson. "We tend to worry about wins and losses for sure, but how we play, that matters too. I think we put a lot of good efforts together on this trip. The stinker [in Chicago] is the one that everyone talks about and all that, but we played a lot of good minutes of hockey on this trip."

Move Made - A couple of hours ahead of Monday's matinee match in Buffalo, the Caps consummated a trade with Chicago, sending the Blackhawks a third-round choice in the 2018 NHL Draft in exchange for defenseman Michal Kempny.

"I don't know him that well," says Carlson of Kempny. "Obviously we just played him [on Saturday], and I've seen him before. Anybody that gets added is here for a reason, and we're pumped up to have him and pumped up to play some better hockey."

Kempny is a 27-year-old native of the Czech Republic who is nearing the end of his second season in the NHL. After signing with Chicago in the summer of 2016, Kempny got into 50 games with the Hawks in 2016-17. This season, he was a healthy scratch for 13 straight games at one point, and he played in 31 of Chicago's first 59 games before the trade.

This marks the fourth straight season in which Washington has added a defenseman at or near the NHL's trade deadline. Last season, the Caps swung a blockbuster deal with St. Louis for defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk.

Washington added blueliner Mike Weber in a deal with the Sabres late in the 2015-16 season, and it brought in defenseman Tim Gleason late in the 2014-15 season via a trade with Carolina.

Having been through the process of integrating a new blueliner into the defense corps mix near the three-quarter mark of the season in each of the last three campaigns, does that make it any easier to do it this time around?

"I don't know," replies Carlson. "It's never easy, but it's never hard, either. It's about finding your way and making him feel as comfortable as you can because I know when guys come here - young guys, new guys, whatever it is - the more comfortable they feel, the better they play into their abilities, and that's what we're looking forward to doing."

And Then There Were None - Washington's win over Buffalo gives the Caps at least one victory this season over each of the other 15 teams in the Eastern Conference. The Capitals had played the Sabres just once this season prior to Monday's game, suffering a 3-1 setback to them in Buffalo on Nov. 7.

Down On The Farm - The AHL Hershey Bears were just up the road from the Caps on Monday, playing an afternoon game of their own on the road in Toronto against the Marlies. Facing the best team in the American League, the Bears skated away with a 5-2 victory.

Hershey surrendered the game's first goal in the first frame, and entered the second period down a goal at 1-0. The Bears then took control of the contest with a trio of goals in the second period.

With help from Tyler Lewington and Lucas Johansen, Tyler Graovac scored the Bears' first goal of the afternoon at 4:22 of the second, tying the score a 1-1. The goal was Graovac's ninth of the season.

Less than two minutes later, Jeremy Langlois netted his third of the season, Colby Williams and Dustin Gazley assisting to give the Bears a 2-1 lead at 6:16 of the middle period.

On a Hershey power play. Nathan Walker notched his fourth goal of the season at 10:39 to make it a 3-1 game, Joe Whitney and Connor Hobbs assisting.

The Marlies pulled to within a goal of the Bears early in the third period, but Liam O'Brien bagged a pair of late empty-netters to account for the 5-2 final. Gazley assisted on both of O'Brien's empty-netters, and goaltender Pheonix Copley picked up a helper on the second of those O'Brien goals.

Copley stopped 27 shots on the afternoon to improve to 10-12-5 on the season.

The 22-25-3-4 Bears are idle until Friday when they travel to Hartford to take on the Wolf Pack.

By The Numbers -Dmitry Orlov led the Capitals with 23:42 in ice time … Evgeny Kuznetsov, Devante Smith-Pelly, Nicklas Backstrom and Alex Ovechkin each had three shots on net to pace the Caps … Ovechkin led Washington with eight shot attempts and four hits … Brooks Orpik led the Capitals with three blocked shots … Lars Eller won 11 of 18 face-offs (61%).